Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Gates discontinues stressful employee ranking system

On another post Anonymous wrote:

"
new topic-- GATES
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/11/30-0

Whatever happened to beta-testing dumb ideas before we all suffer? Oh yeah MILLIONS came in the way "

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally after ruining hundreds of thousands of lives across the country he learns what we've have known all along. That his grand dream does not work.
We have to live with it for several more years.
Employees need to feel that they are integral part of the school district. Everyone in the schools work as a team. Moral has to be high, not in the pits. Give people a reason to want to come to work, to grow, to want to achieve without being beaten down day after day. Let the teachers teach without feeling their jobs are on the line every single day. Teachers love their jobs, and believe they can make a difference in children's lives. Everyone of us can remember a teacher that stood out and changed us for the better.
His dream has hurt nearly every child in America. Think of all the children and the lives of good teachers and their experience in teaching that could have been passed on to incoming teachers. 'More than 36 states', oh my.
And let's not forget all of the millions of dollars wasted on consultants, RISE, etc.
Let's get back to basics and work together to allow our children to achieve their dreams and make the world a better place.

Anonymous said...

Amen--question-- what would happen if everyone participated in a surface way-- we have had inits before that. Teachers and admin just kinda played through. I do not mean anything illegal-- i do understand the new testing regulations and follw them religiously--but is htere any way out of this "fidelity" before sanity?

Anonymous said...

No one questioned the fact that Mark Roosevelt had the lesser of three finalists for superintendent. No, instead we had a school board led by the Teresa Colaizzi and Jean Fink that probably got goosebumps that a 'name' wanted to come to town. Maybe it's a good thing David Cassidy didn't throw his name in.
In a similar sense, no one has ever asked exactly what the credentials are of someone who wishes to push an educational philosophy--heck, a complete paradigm shift---and backs it with millions of dollars he calls a 'donation.'
The school board and administration sold their souls for this blood money. They asked no questions. Heck, not only was it big time money....but it was Bill Gates! Not one question about what Gates was pushing. Not one about his personal inclinations and intentions.
This article is no surprise to classroom teachers.
RISE is a complete sham....a salary dump for central administration. The lives of countless dedicated teachers have been ruined, and Lane has the audacity to call PFT/AFT "personal" against her???
The nerve.
It's about time people wise up to what has been 8 years of the most corrupt group to ever lead Pittsburgh Public Schools. Ever.
This group of ethically and morally bankrupt group needs to be investigated. And don't forget Roosevelt in the equation, and French, Murphy and others.
Dedicated individuals have had their lives turned upside down thanks to lies.

Anonymous said...

RISE is the tool used to move seasoned veteran teachers out the door as they come to retirement age at 55. Then there is stress that's placed on all teachers because even proficient is not good enough. The sham of RISE is nothing more than creating a means to ensure a process to decrease personnel costs. Teachers are so stressed that those who are years away from the magical age of 55 are looking at other districts to make the jump even as they loose seniority and accumulated sick days. The district loves this even more because higher paid teachers terminate their own employment and unless all of those teachers use up all of their accumulated sick time, the district makes another windfall.

Now the sad part of this all is that our PFT leaders led us down this path hand in hand with district leadership all the while touting how RISE would finally provide a means for teachers to truly understand what their principal thought about each teachers practice as documented by performance indicated evidence. No longer would we receive the dreaded
"Satisfactory" end of the year rating. Well, all I can say is, "Look what you've done now Tarka and Esposito!" Now that our members have paid such a price through forced retirement or resignation, John is enjoying his pension and Nina pulls in a big check from 18th Street never having to be a participant in the wonderful process of RISE.

Now that Microsoft has dumped its failed course of employee performance, the question is, "What will be the response of PPS?" This is the million dollar question that our new Board Members will need to address with administration and the PFT.

Questioner said...

Allderdice recently honored a former teacher who, at 86, is still teaching (elsewhere). Does PPS have ANY teachers over 65?